Batavia (Jakarta) and the Cape of Good Hope became key centres for trade in sugar, coffee and rice. In the Atlantic region, trading by Dutch merchants in sugar, coffee and other produce led to the founding of the Dutch West India Company (WIC). With time all trading posts became sites of slave trading and slave labour. Colonial trade also stimulated the national economy of the Netherlands. Tradespeople in the country made money by supplying products for the slave trade, for example, or for everyday life in the colonies. And transporting produce to Europe and processing it there was also profitable.
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